Discuss the ways that choreographers use the aural setting to help them to communicate the choreographic intention. Use a range of examples from at least three professional works.

Discuss the ways that choreographers use the aural setting to help them to communicate the choreographic intention. Use a range of examples from at least three professional works.

The aural setting can be used in many ways to communicate the choreographic intention, for example, it can help tell the story and it can enhance character, mood and atmosphere. The aural setting can also help to set the scene and tell you where a dance is set, for example, place or era.

Nutcracker! (2002) by Matthew Bourne is performed to the tradition Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky. It is a narrative ballet and throughout the dance the score is used to enhance the storytelling and the characterisation. At the start of Act One the Matron claps her hands and the orphans get to work scrubbing and cleaning the orphanage. The musical accompaniment is bright and busy with the opening phrase building to a climax, as this happens two orphans wheel on a sad looking Christmas Tree (a twig in a pot). The orphans gather around in excitement and amazement, enhanced by the climax in the score, and this shows how deprived the orphans are that they get excited about the arrival of this very sad tree.

The first change in mood in the piece occurs when Dr Dross enters in Act One. Immediately before he enters from stage right the musical builds to another climax and the orphans all rush to assemble in a line, as if they are about to be inspected. The use of the music here tells the audience that something significant is about to happen.

Fig1.

He enters as the music changes from a major to a minor key, shifting the mood from bright and busy to dark and sinister. This enhances the characterization of Dr Dross as he is an evil character and enters snarling at the orphans who are all terrified of him.

Swansong (1987) by Christopher Bruce is accompanied by a commissioned score composed by Phillip Chambon. This work is about a prisoner being interrogated and tortured by two guards. The work is structured into seven sections and the different sections are distinguished by changes in the music. Each section of the dance is accompanied by a different track except section 5, the vicitim’s second solo which is performed in silence. In between the sections silence is used to build tension, the dancers repeat a question and answer motif during the silence where they perform tap steps, ie. Shuffles, heal beats and toe taps. The use of silence allows these taps steps to by heard and emphasizes their meaning as they represent verbal questions directed by the interrogators at the victim.

The first sound in the soundtrack occurs as the guards push the victim from his chair. The action is aggressive and it coincides with a loud crash in the music which emphasizes the movement and makes it seem even more aggressive. The music changes pace throughout the piece as the guards try out different methods of torture on the victim, sometimes physically attacking him and exhausting him with fast actions, accompanied by fast energetic music. In these sections direct correlation is used between the music and the dance, the dancers echo the rhythms and tempo in the music ie. The cane dance. Section 2 is followed by more interrogation from the guards. They tap out questions during the silence and he refuses to answer them, showing his defiance by standing and stamping both his feet. The silence enhances the tension between the guards and the victim and allows the soft shoe tap steps to be heard.

The guards then leave the victim alone, they exit stage right and as they disappear a sound is heard in the score that sounds like a slamming door, suggesting that the victim has been locked in, communicating to the audience that he is a prisoner. The Solo he then performs is in direct correlation with the music, the music is played on a descending scale for the most part, suggesting a loss of hope as he dances. The music here also contains a sound like a bird crying / calling out. As the victim stands facing the light he slowly reaches up with both hands towards the light,

Fig 2.

showing that he longs to be free and this moment coincides with the sound of a crying bird calling out. This enhances the overall mood of the movement idea. His arms unfold like the wings of a bird about to take off and the cry represents that he is trapped.

Rush (2000) by Akram Khan is performed to music by Andy Cowton. The music in the piece doesn’t work directly with the choreography, they mutually coexist in time and space and the music enhances the mood of the dance. As the dancers enter they stand downstage with their backs to the audience.

Fig. 3

The light then slowly fades to black out as the volume of the sounds score increases to a crescendo. The effect is one of anticipation, the audience is left wandering what is about to happen. The noise is deafening and quite intimidating, sounding like wind at high velocity or the whiring intensity of an engine. The piece is an abstract work based on parachutists in freefall and this opening creates a sense of the anticipation felt by someone about to freefall out of a plane. The sounds reflect the winds and the engine. Later in Part 1 bells can be heard almost like an alarm ringing. This suggests urgency and panic and it coincides with the dancers performing fast uncontrolled rolls across the floor from standing.

Revelations (1960) by Alvin Ailey is performed to a selection of traditional spirituals, songs Ailey recalls from his childhood. ‘Sinnerman’ in section two is performed by three men, they appear on the stage running from corner to corner as if being chases as a voice sings ‘Oh Sinner Man, where you gonna run to’. This lyric is repeated three times and the three dancers run frantically as if looking for an escape. This is an example of how Ailey uses Music Visualisation, the dancers are imitating the words in the song, telling the audience that they are sinners try to escape what they have done. Another example of this way of using the aural setting can be seen In Section One of Revelations, ‘I’ve been buked’. The dancers move slowly in unison with one another as the words ‘I’ve been buked and I’ve been scorned’ are repeated twice. They perform a deep second plié with one arm reaching to the right, they then repeat the same action to the other side to as the musical refrain is repeated.

Fig 4.

The plies represent them being pushed down and oppressed, which is one of the key themes of the work. The dancers look like they are being pushed down into the ground and are desperately reaching for help, salvation.

In conclusion, there are many ways that a choreographer can use the aural setting. All of them aid communication of the choreographic intention either by enhancing mood, character, theme or narrative in someway. Other relationships a choreographer might establish with the aural setting include disassociation and call and response.